


One Secret

by Aud_Diane



Series: Built In A Week [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Unplanned Pregnancy, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 01:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aud_Diane/pseuds/Aud_Diane
Summary: Betty has a secret. Jughead finds out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! One Week had such a great reception that I decided I'd had in a little insight on what happened before the epilogue. While I do recommend reading that story before this one, you definitely don't have to :) enjoy!

In all her years, Betty Cooper had never felt such a panic as she had in that moment. Her eyes scanned the room, swiping random items of hers that scattered Jughead’s apartment into the tote she held with a shaking hand; a plastic hairbrush on the bathroom counter, her phone charger in the bedside table, her throw blanket on the back of the chair. She had a small fear she might pass out from her frantic, too short breaths, but it was pushed to the back of her mind. Getting out was the most important thing. She would let herself pass out from fear later.

When the realization set in moments before, she had considered leaving her items behind and simply _running_ , but that would be too hard for him. It would be kinder for her to remove all the traces of herself. Knowing the pain she would be causing, Betty wanted to make it as easy as possible for Jughead. Her own pain would settle in after she left. That she knew was for certain. Had she known kissing Jughead goodbye a few days before would be the last time she was going to see him, she might have held his face for a second longer; tried to memorize exact color green of his eyes.

A sob racked through her chest, but she quickly swallowed it back in after taking a photo of them off the wall. The picture was one of their first. Sand and ocean surrounded them and, although Jughead’s arm was tight around her shoulders and she was tucked into his side, they weren’t even ‘together’ when her sister snapped the quick picture. It was funny how quickly they moved from acquaintances to lovers that past summer; how fast they instantly needed the other in their lives.

It was painfully ironic their relationship was ending just as quickly.

Before she could stuff the frame in her bag, the front door clicked open and she turned, nearly screaming. Her bag fell the door, emptying the contents. The picture shattered by her feet as her heart pounded so loudly she thought it might burst from her chest.

Jughead paused, obviously surprised at seeing her just inside his living room. He dropped his small suitcase, his mouth slowly slipping into a relaxed smile as he shrugged out of his jacket. A pain shot through her ribs looking at him. Tears were definitely coming.

“Thank God, Betts. I’ve been so worried-.”

“You aren’t supposed to be home yet.”

Tossing both his jacket and beanie on the couch, he raised an eyebrow. She tried to hold down the contents of her stomach as his smile faltered. “I came back early when you never called me back. You know I’ve been texting you for days? I kept thinking…” She never found out what he kept thinking. His voice trailed off as his eyes traveled over her form, finally taking in her shaking breaths and panicked gaze. When they landed on the bag of all the things she had left there, spilled out as evidence to her crime, they narrowed dangerously and snapped back to her face.

“What are you doing?” His voice had lost its easy tone. It was now accusing her and Betty knew she deserved every bit of it. However, she also knew she had to hold her ground. If she was going to run, she couldn’t let him break her down. “Betty Cooper-.”

“You aren’t supposed to be home yet!” she repeated, accidentally letting her voice waiver. “You told me you had meetings all week with the editor.”

She’d never seen the look on Jughead’s face. It made her want to vomit to know the hateful slant in his eyes were directed to her. She wanted nothing more than to fall into him, run her fingers through his hair that she loved so much and whisper her secret. But she couldn’t. It would ruin _everything_ and Betty was going to do everything in her power to prevent it.

“What are you _doing_?” He was more demanding this time, stepping towards her until she sunk so far into the wall she might have fallen through. She could have lied; come out with a clever story and make her escape at another time, but it would be pointless. He already knew. The guilt was written all over her face. “Are you leaving?”

Betty didn’t answer. She couldn’t. He was much too close and his smell was overwhelming her; oil from his bike, a small hint of cheap shampoo. She had been craving it for days. She had missed him _so_ much, but Betty wasn’t going to give in. Leaving him was the kindest thing to do.

“Were you trying to leave before I came back?” he asked in a menacing whisper. She finally felt the first tear leak from the corner of her eye as she nodded. “You-you weren’t even going to say goodbye?”

Another sob broke through Betty’s throat, but this time she couldn’t stop the others that followed. Before she could stop him, Jughead kicked her bag out of the way. Crunching over the broken picture frame, he tried to envelop her in his arms.

“No, _no!”_ Her wet scream made him pause. She didn’t have to look up to see his face. She could feel the hurt radiating off of him, but despite that he still grabbed her arms. “ _Please_ just let me go.”

She sounded pathetic. She felt pathetic. She was a monster.

“Did I do something?” Jughead tried to duck down to look her in the eye, but she continued to try to push him away. “Betty, please whatever it is I’ll fix it. I never knew something was wrong!”

“I swear it isn’t you,” she tried to explain through the heavy tears. Giving another shove, she accepted he wasn’t moving away from her and settled for covering her face. “I swear, Jughead. Don’t think you did anything. You are so amazing-.”

“Bullshit,” he spat. “Just tell me! Did you find someone else? Is that it?”

“No, I would never cheat-!”

“Then, _why_ are you leaving me?” His spoke so softly and filled with so much desperation, that Betty suddenly realized he was holding back his own tears. He pulled away her hands, removing any space between as he lifted them to his mouth and placed a light kiss to her knuckles. She cried harder. “If you are really walking out that door, you owe me an explanation.”

Betty swallowed, trying to ignore the tears she saw in her boyfriend’s eyes. “I can’t mess up your life, Jughead. You are about to do so many great things and-and I don’t have any place there with you.”

“The book deal?” Real confusion crossed his features. “How would you mess that up? You’ve been there every step through this. You told me to go take the meeting with the editor. You’ve done nothing but help me and make everything easier.”

“My life is about to get so much harder.” She tried to pull her hands from his grasp and failed. “You have to know I love you so much, Jug.”

“You wouldn’t be doing this if you loved me.” His voice was growing harsher again. He held her hand tighter, almost as if he was afraid she’d tried to make a run for it. “Whatever is going to be getting harder, we can do it together. We’ve gotten through so much.”

“Not like this.”

“Just tell me.”

“It would ruin your life.”

“Nothing you could ever do would ruin-.”

“Jughead, I’m pregnant.”

Betty could have cut the silence with a knife. She didn’t know what reaction to expect. The whole point of her leaving was to avoid this confrontation, but it was there in front of her and she had no idea what to do with it. Her sobs had momentarily stopped as she carefully watched Jughead’s face. At first, his mouth had dropped into shock, eyes flittering from her face to stomach as if he didn’t believe her.

Betty was about to smile, when the shock slipped off his face. A noise escaped from the back of throat, something between a scoff and sob as he dropped her hands, backing away with a _horrible_ expression on his face. She couldn’t place it, but it made her feel disgusting.

“You were going to leave.” His voice was strained, and Betty knew he was trying not to yell. “You were going to _leave_ and not even tell me.”

“I know it sounds horrible-.”

“Sounds horrible?” he demanded, voice growing louder. “You were going to run away with my baby!”

“It’s the best option, Jughead!” she moved across the floor, careful of the broken glass from the frame. Jughead made no move to approach her. His chest was heaving, matching the frustrated flexing of his hands. “We haven’t even been together a year. You just signed a new book deal. Its not fair to drop a baby into your life and I know that!”

He didn’t respond, just continued to glare at her. She wondered what heated words were flashing through his mind. A part of her wanted him to yell and make her feel like shit, the other wanted him to understand and to let her walk out the door. She must have glanced to it, because he did the same before hissing his next words at her. “Don’t you even think about walking out that fucking door.”

For the first time that evening, she felt her own flash of anger. “You don’t get to talk to me like that.”

In two quick strides, he was bearing down on her again, but this time she didn’t sink back into the wall. Her hands balled into fists at her side as her jaw set as she tilted her chin to meet his eyes. “ _You_ don’t get to go God knows where with my kid, Betts. That shit isn’t going to fly! What was your plan anyways? Pack up your shit and go home? Go to a new city? Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I don’t know!” she admitted hotly. “All I knew was I couldn’t do this to you!”

“You’re right,” he spat sarcastically. “Because you breaking my fucking heart is so much easier than getting the best news of my entire life. Great plan, Betty! It’s going great!”

“You are kidding yourself if you think this is good news. You’re going to be so busy with your book and we haven’t even been together-.”

He ran another frustrated hand through his hair. The muscles in his jaw went rigid. When he spoke, it was through his teeth. “Why are you using that as an excuse? Why does timing suddenly matter?”

“It just does!”

“You are using me as an excuse to run out because you’re scared!” Jughead shouted. “You don’t get to get away with this. The guilt was all over your face the second I walked in. You know what you’re doing is wrong.”

“You don’t get to boss me around!” Her voice matched his, a few angry tears beginning to leak. This time, she wasn’t sobbing out of fear, but crying because she was so angry that he was right. “If I want to walk right out that door and never speak to you again, I can! It’s my body! It’s my choice!”

“You don’t get to go anywhere with _my_ fucking kid!”

She let a frustrated yell, gripping her hair and wishing she could just sink into the floor. Her breaths were no longer short and panicked, but long and exasperated. “This would have been so much easier if you came home when you were supposed to. Why are you making this so hard?”

Betty could feel the energy change. She was no longer seething or shaking. Instead she felt utterly exhausted. What she had thought was the best plan for everyone, was crashing around her. The urge to simply fall onto the ground and ignore the problem for much too long was overwhelming. She wanted to both cry and throw something across the room, but also just sit in the dark and let silence drown her. Before she made the choice of what to do, a pair of arms wrapped around her. Betty didn’t push them away.

Instead of sinking into the unknown alone, she let Jughead hold her so tightly it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. Betty closed her eyes, breathing him in and wondering why on earth her first reaction had been to bolt for the door. Jughead’s chin sat on top of her hair and after a moment, she felt something damp. It took her a moment to realize it was his own tears finally falling.

“Why?” he started, voice chocking and raspy. It was barely a whisper “Why did you think you belonged anywhere other than right here?”

“Juggie,” she breathed. “I don’t know how to do this.”

There was a press of his lips to her air. “We’ll figure it out.”

Standing there in his too-small apartment, surrounded by a fallen bag and broken glass, Betty decided she believed him.


	2. Chapter 2

“I can’t do this.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Jughead, no. I really can’t.”

“ _Betty_. Yes.”

The weeks following Betty’s failed disappearing act weren’t easy on either of them. In fact, it was probably the most difficult time their relationship had ever gone through. While Jughead had promised openly and loudly to want the baby, Betty’s doubts followed him notoriously. Whenever he talked about her pregnancy or the future, a small line would appear between her brow. The look secretly set him on edge, but he pretended not to see it, because Jughead knew he was at fault too. He would never get the image of Betty, bag in hand and guilt radiating off her from his mind. Consequently, he noticed himself watching her more. When they would hold a strained conversation on her morning sickness and line would appear on her brow, his eyes would flash to door wondering if it was locked. It was stupid, but he knew a locked door would slow her down if made a run it.

It was weeks before the change started. It was slow at first. Just one, sometimes two occasions in a day that made Jughead believe the situation was evolving. It started when he made a joke about the baby coming out wearing a beanie. He waited for the tense brow the heavy air that would sit between them for a moment. Instead, Betty busted out a snort and rolled her eyes, telling Jughead to keep dreaming because she was determined to have all their kids coming out looking like _her._ Then, when his hand would drift to abdomen in the middle of the night she no longer tensed at the touch and shrunk away. Betty leaned into him, sighing and leaning back to kiss his jaw.

The moments continued to grow and become more frequent. The line in her brow eventually fell away for good and Jughead no longer sat up at night, wondering if Betty’s side of the bed would be empty when he awoke. With Betty’s acceptance that he was actually _happy_ to have both her and the baby in his life also came his growing trust in her that he had temporarily lost.

Things were good and they were finally able to whisper in the dark of Jughead’s bedroom, discussing what hair the baby would have and if it would be a boy or girl. They argued over what neighborhoods to look for apartments in and the colors Betty wanted to paint the nursery. They found their joy in knowing the most incredible secret in both their lives and relishing that it was just _theirs._ The baby was a secret, but a secret they held together and could enjoy in privacy.

That was until the inevitable happened.

It was exactly one year from when Jughead had pulled in front of the Cooper’s beach house, fully prepared for a week of lies. So far, they were mimicking the first night perfectly. It was well after dark when the pair parked on the quiet street, watching to see if Betty’s parents had stayed up to greet them. When the living room light flickered on, Betty began to panic.

“No, I really can’t,” she stated firmly, her eyes staying fixed on the house. “I am finally just wrapping my head around this. Including my parents was the _worst_ idea-.”

“Betty. Honey.” Jughead quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her attention back to him. He didn’t miss her quick breaths or the way her bottom lip quivered. Kissing her knuckles, he prayed her flight response wasn’t about to kick in. “We talked about this. You’re showing now. They’re going to find out sooner or later.”

“It’s not fair,” she huffed, swiping at the loose hairs on her forehead before finally meeting his gaze. The look of defeat on her features was familiar. Jughead had seen it that night he found out she was pregnant. He gripped her hand tighter. “This was _our_ secret. I don’t like sharing it with other people, let alone my insane mother.”

“I know,” he answered, softly. Jughead agreed with her. He didn’t like people talking to Betty about the baby or asking about the pregnancy. Mainly because he wasn’t sure how she’d react. While he no longer walked on eggshells around his girlfriend, she still held a huge amount of anxiety toward the subject. But  ever since she started showing, the conversations became unavoidable. “Just because your family will know, that doesn’t mean it won’t be any less special for us.”

“I’m not worried about it being special.” Betty brought her free hand up to gently touch the line of his jaw. “She’s going to be so mean.”

“Hey, this isn’t going to be anything like last time.” He thought back to the tight smiles when Betty introduced him to her parents a year ago. Jughead silently wondered if they would receive the same reaction to her rounded belly. “This is a _baby._ Not you bringing home another tattooed scoundrel.” Betty gave a wet laugh. “Even your mom can’t be pissed about that.”

“Juggie, she’s going to say awful things-.”

“You know whatever she says is going to be at me,” he interrupted, leaning close to press his forehead to hers. “Not you. Not the baby. And I’m fully capable of dealing with whatever she throws at me.”

They both glanced to the house as someone moved the curtain. For a split moment, yellow light scattered across the sandy lawn before it was gone again.

“I wish I was as brave as you,” Betty whispered, watching where the curtain had moved. “You’ve always stood up to her when she’s too much.”

“Are you kidding me, Betts? Who was it last year that told her to get used to me sticking around? You showed up on her doorstep with her worst nightmare just to prove a point.” Jughead grabbed her chin, gently but firm enough he forced her to look his way. The edges of her eyes were damp. “You are the bravest person I know. I can’t believe how luck our kid will be to have you as their mom.”

“Jug-.”

“Listen. If it means that much to you, I’ll turn the car around right now. We can tell them whenever you want, if ever.” Jughead loosed his grip on her chin, choosing instead to brush his thumb on her cheek. “But the Betty I know would walk right in there and _declare_ that’s she having a baby just to watch Alice Cooper lose her mind.”

Betty sighed and wiped her eyes, leaning into his touch. “With a tattoo scoundrel.”

“And unmarried.”

“Can’t forget that.” Her eyes went back to the house, but Jughead could see the worry fading. With a final sniffle, he watched Betty’s green eyes flash with a fire he hadn’t seen in a long time. “Let’s do this.”


End file.
